


Is This Your Card?

by Alexilulu



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Meet-Cute, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-08 01:29:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexilulu/pseuds/Alexilulu
Summary: Following the resolution of Iwai's 'situation', he finds himself looking back, in order to look forward. Maybe, in so doing, he can find something new.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I cursed/was cursed by the incredible [birdsona5](https://twitter.com/birdsona5) with a setup for a rarepair I'd never considered but am now consumed by...This is like the third time I've founded a tag for a rarepair in the last year, please help ;_;
> 
> Assumes Iwai's confidant is done but Chihaya's is not! We gotta have a teensy bit of angst mixed in or it's not my work, y'know?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not Explicit, but Chapter 2 is, so fair warning!

Munehisa Iwai isn’t really sure what brought him to Shinjuku on his only day off. It’s not like he’s looking for fun, what with the laundry list of shit to take care of at the shop. And it’s not like Kaoru took him, or asked him to buy him something (Iwai would have a  _ lot _ of questions to ask about anything Kaoru would want to buy in this part of Shinjuku, anyway). He just...got on the train, and got off here. Wanderlust, something like that.

Maybe it reminds him of old times. After all that shit with Tsuda and the clan, maybe he just wants to reminisce a little. He doesn’t miss all this, the neon and cheap suits and bad cologne, the threats and fear and bravado and that pit in your stomach that forms when you know somebody’s gonna die tonight. But...eh. It doesn’t bear thinking about. It’s a bright, sunny Sunday and Iwai’s gonna have a good time somehow, even if it’s just people watching and a can of coffee.

A bench and some pocket change later, Iwai has a can of rapidly warming coffee in his hand and a street to watch. Plenty of cacophonous outfits are on display on their day off, people with bright personalities to go with their clothes chattering the day away. He takes measured sips, reclining in his seat and catching meaningless snatches of conversation as they pass him by. He could get used to this, he thinks. It’s...relaxing. He hasn’t felt relaxed in months. Police, old clan buddies showing up wanting real hardware. It’s been claustrophobic, like getting shoved in a cell and told what to do or else. He heard somebody say once that criminals like the yakuza get treated like mushrooms: kept in the dark and fed shit.

Well, god damn it, he’s gonna enjoy the sun, then.

Something catches his eye around noon, rather literally. A glint of gold bright as a polished ten-yen coin off someone’s hair, right across from him. When the crowd thins a little, he gets a better look at a thin young lady with bright blonde hair tucked under a headband, setting up a little card table and a camp stool almost dead across from him. Huh. Iwai didn’t think card sharps still tried to ply their trade anymore. Or that they looked quite that beautiful, either.

Well, shit. He’s still got more pocket change, and he’s in a good mood. Why not? Iwai stands, finishing his coffee and stuffing it in his jacket pocket. Crossing the street, the pretty young thing gives him a winning smile.

“Good morning! Interested in a set?” Oh, her patter is good, alright. Iwai smiles back, nodding and throwing down the yen coins on the table. She pulls a deck of cards (much bigger than he expected; is it a trick deck, then?) and claps it down on the table, dealing out three cards with a single flourish of the hand across the card table. Oh, she’s very good. She reaches a hand out to one of the cards, and he coughs in surprise.

“I think you usually show me the card I’m looking for.”

“The card you’re looking for?” Her face scrunches up in surprise as she looks up at him. “I’m reading your cards, not you.”

“Wait, is this not three card monte?” His heart sinks when she shakes her head. “Oh. Sorry, I just…”

“It’s fine.” She smiles again, actually giggling behind her hand. “I forget, some people have very different expectations walking up to a card table in the city. I do tarot card readings. For your future.” She watches him expectantly, though he’s sure her mind is more on the coins on the table. “Did you...not want me to?”

Iwai shrugs. “I’m not goin, anywhere, doll.” She turns back to the cards lightning-quick, her hair falling to frame her face as she flips cards and reads them. Through the curtain of gold, he can see a hint of red, but doesn’t think much of it, considering the noonday sun. She must burn fast, with such beautiful skin.

“Past...Oh, dear. The Ten of Swords in the reversed position…” Her voice grows quiet as she stares down at the bisected man flanked by two sets of 5 swords. “You were betrayed, but you’re moving forward. You knew it would happen, but it still hurt.” The next card flips, a hammer encircled by 8 glittering gold coins. “The Eight of Coins...In the present, you are working diligently, in a period for hard work and learning new things to change your life for the better.” The last card flips, a man dangling from his foot, held aloft by a rope tied to a single branch. “Ah. The Hanged Man. In the future, you stand at a crossroads, ready and willing to sacrifice to move forward in life. And you will have to, to move on.” She looks up, the redness from the sun already passed. That must be one hell of a sunscreen to work that fast… “I’m sorry that you’ve been put through so much hardship, but it looks like you may have more on the way. I’m never wrong.”

“Well, shoot.” Iwai laughs, scratching his chin. “I can’t argue with that, now, can I?”

“Not really.” She says it without any joy, sweeping the cards back into the deck and shuffling in a way he’s never seen any card sharp do in his life, spinning cards about at random and working them in next to right-side up cards. “I hope it helps you, though. I’ve learned recently that destiny isn’t set, or not as much as I had believed.”

“So, if destiny isn’t set, how are you never wrong?” Iwai presses an extra few coins down next to the fee he’s already paid, pushing them towards her.

“I’m never wrong  _ in the moment _ , of course. If you change your destiny, your cards will change as well.” She smiles and palms his payment, disappearing it into his lap. “I would be happy to read your cards to tell you if your fate has changed, of course.”

Ah. So that’s the con, then. Kids these days must really believe in fate if she can post up in Shinjuku and make bank. Strange days, these. 

Then again, he’s seen stranger people with his own two eyes. A certain curly-haired kid comes to mind.

“So, tell me something.” Iwai squats down to the side of the card table. “You don’t really wanna be doing this, right?” The way her mouth twists and she looks away tells him everything he needs to know. “Right. I’ll be here next Sunday. Right on that bench right across from you. You need anything, you drop your cards and I’ll be there in 5 seconds, doll.”

“O-okay.” Can people get sunburned twice in a day? Her face went red and she shaded it with her hair again. “I don’t...you don’t have to do this.”

“Nah, but I want to. Hey, maybe this’ll be the thing that changes my destiny, right?” He laughs, as lightly as he can for her benefit. “Or maybe this is how I get my hanged man on.”

“That sounds...wrong.” The girl snorts softly, and her shoulders relax. “I don’t even know your name.”

“Ehh, probably better not to. I got a life outside helping out. Call me...Gecko, I guess.”

“Right. Well, I’m Chihaya.” Chihaya puts on a brave face for him, but her hands are shaking a little as she returns to shuffling her cards. “I guess I’ll see you Sunday, then.”

“You will.” He stands, brushing his coat back and nodding to her. Well, that was unexpected. Maybe his impromptu train trip changed his destiny, or whatever.

For whatever reason, he’s a lot more concerned with changing her destiny right now, though.

* * *

Next Sunday, nothing happens. He drinks 3 coffees and gets another reading, just for the hell of it. Sure enough, it’s the same. He tried to watch her deal, but she just palms the top 3 off the top, no trick at all. Or none that he can detect, considering it’s been well over a decade since he had to give a crap about cards. Chihaya has plenty of other customers besides him, so he keeps the conversation to a minimum. She doesn’t seem uncomfortable to have him around, at the very least, which is nice.

The Sunday after that, nothing happens. Well, something happens. He drinks 4 coffees, has to run off to find a public bathroom that doesn’t reek of piss. When he gets back, he sees another little camp stool set up next to her table, and she waves to him and points to it.

“Here, that bench looks uncomfortable.” Chihaya smiles for him, bright and shiny even in the cloudy day. 

“Well, you ain’t wrong. Makes me miss my chair back home.” Iwai sits down on the stool, realizing how much taller he is than her even when they’re sitting. He stays quiet, hands knit together between his knees, and watches customers and onlookers go by. Chihaya does keep looking back at him from time to time, but he doesn’t pay it much mind. She must be surprise how tall he is, that’s all. He stays longer than he usually has, until the sun is starting to set behind the clouds.

“Well...How about my reading, then?”

It’s still the same.

“Huh. Three for three. What’s the odds of that, I wonder?”

“One hundred percent. I told you, I’m never wrong.” Chihaya’s mouth twitches into a grin. “You know, I’d have to say that you don’t seem to be trying to change your destiny very hard. I’ve had other clients change it within a day of their last reading.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not like that guy. Somebody like that must be some kind of superhuman. Maybe I’m okay with my destiny, y’know? Self-sacrifice is kinda my thing.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate.” Chihaya sighs as she pulls the cards back into the deck and returns to shuffling.

“Kind of you to worry, though, darlin’.” Iwai smiles, and she covers her face with both hands, despite the cloud cover that couldn’t cause sunburn if it tried. She must just have really fair skin, Iwai decides.

* * *

One Sunday, the clouds have been threatening rain for hours when Iwai gets off the train. He scarcely makes it to the main street before the storm opens up, fat drops of rain bouncing off the brim of his hat. People all around him are scattering for cover and opening umbrellas.

Come to think of it, he’s never seen Chihaya with an umbrella, or any sort of awning for her little table...Shit. He picks up the pace, lungs burning as he moves through the crowd towards Chihaya’s stand. He finds her there already damp, hurriedly packing up her table. Shrugging off his coat, he lifts it above his head and over her hunched form.

“Wh-Oh!” Chihaya startled. “What are you doing?!”

“Just pack up, I’ll get you to cover.” She nods, stuffing her deck into her bag and neglecting to fold the cloth that goes over the table as she gives it the same treatment. Iwai can feel rain running down his coat and onto his back in shockingly cold rivulets. Once she’s done, she stands under him with her stand bundled to her chest.  She fits surprisingly well under his arched arms without too much bending, somehow. He’s never actually seen her stand for all that long up close, has he?

There’s a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, right now. He hopes it’s not for the same reason as the old days.

“Okay, I’m packed!” She looks up at him over her shoulder.

“Where to?”

“The station! I can set up under an awning, maybe.”

“Still worried about work…” Iwai tisks as he follows Chihaya’s lead, giving her as much room as his coat and his arms allows. It might not be much, but Iwai won’t be known as a cad, even in a part of town he hadn’t seen in years before a month ago. When they finally reach the station, he groans with relief, his aching arms complaining as he finally lets them fall.

“Gosh, Gecko, thank you so much!” Chihaya drops her stuff and turns to him under the awning before he even has time to pull his coat on, gushing animatedly. Does she usually have this kind of accent? “I’d never once thought a whit about bringin’ an umbrella, but now I definitely will! Oh, you’re my hero!” She hugs him around the middle, making a very pleased noise to herself as she tries to crush the wind out of him and only partially succeeds. “You really are just a darlin’, you know that, hon?”

That pit in his stomach grows three sizes in the space of a single sentence, twisting his guts in a spiral. Oh, no. Is this...Iwai tries to keep his cool, throwing his coat back on once she releases him. Stay cool, man. She’s a decade younger than you! Maybe that’s just how her generation talks to their elders, now. That kid has said some weird, spooky shit before to him, this is no different. This is just how it is, there’s nothing behind it.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Oh, but it really is! Nobody sticks their neck out for each other in the city, leastwise they don’t for me, but you did! Oh, Gecko, you’re my hero.”

The knot octuples with just one word.

“C’mon, already. I just did what came to me naturally. Maybe...maybe that’s why I got that hanging guy? Self-sacrificial or whatever.”

“That’s the Hanged Man, but...hm.” Chihaya turns, digging through her bag. “It’s not proper, my ma didn’t teach me to do it without a ceremonial cloth, but...here.” She fans out three cards facing down. “Here, hold these, I’ll flip them.”

“Well, alright.” Iwai stands there, dripping water and takes the cards. She plucks the first out of his fingers and flips it. “Ten of Swords reversed, so nothing’s changed about your past. Now…” She flips the middle card around, revealing a massive chalice worked in bronze upon an altar. “The Ace of Cups! The present has changed!”

“Okay, yeah, it changed, but what does it mean, then?”

“W-well, it...symbolizes new beginnings, all the aces do, but the cups suit is emotionally focused, so it’s the beginning of...new love.” She stares up at him, something unreadable twinkling in her eyes, and that knot multiplies 1000 times. “L-let’s see what the future holds.”

She takes hold of the last card, eyes still locked on him. He takes her wrist in his free hand, stopping her from turning it. Oh, what the hell is this tingly, pins and needles sensation in his hand from touching her? C’mon, Iwai, you’re in your thirties, you don’t get scared of  _ girls _ . Or, you didn’t not that long ago.

“Do we...have to?” It wasn’t hot today, but Iwai feels like the heat’s on and blowing right under his face right now.

“Oh, but we should. My readings are never wrong, after all.” Iwai grits his teeth when she smiles at him like they both know he’s gonna fold like a cheap suit, so he lets go of her wrist. The card she turns over is a nude man and woman side by side under a tree. “The Lovers.”

It doesn’t take a genius to read what the interpretation of a card like that is. The look of triumph on Chihaya’s face tells him the truth. Girls shouldn’t look so smug, he thinks, but...maybe it’s alright. She still looks so beautiful.

“Well, there you have it. An act of self-sacrifice changed your fate, Gecko.” The cards disappear from his hand with a sweep of hers, fingertips brushing his leaving that same pins-and-needles feeling in their wake. “You truly are my knight in shining armor, darlin’.”

“C’mon, you don’t even know my name.”

“You’re Munehisa Iwai, and you own Untouchable.” 

What? 

_ What? _

“How the f—” Iwai slumps, trailing off before he says something unbecoming in front of a lady.

“I’ve been to Shibuya before, hon. I may not be a city girl, but I know how the train works, and your shop kinda sticks out.” She looks as pleased as a cat with a saucer of milk, god damn it. It’s so cute, but she basically just admitted to stalking him, it shouldn’t be cute, but it is!

“...Alright. So, what’s to stop this destiny from changing, if I changed the last one?”

“Well...do you want it to change?” Chihaya clasps her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on her flats. She’s in that stance that he’s seen so often in girls younger than him, when they ask something they know the person they’re asking can’t say no to.

And he definitely can’t.

“...Nah.”

“I knew it!” Chihaya claps with joy, dancing from foot to foot. “I knew it, you were sweet on me! I knew you couldn’t just be calling me ‘doll’ with a straight face. You’re an incorrigible flirt, Munehisa.” Well, he had, but...he just thought it was a cute affectation. He used to see his dad call all sorts of girls that when he was younger, after all.

“Yeah, alright, you got me, can you keep it down? This is too much…” Iwai hangs his head, running a hand over his stubble and praying for his face to stop being so red-hot.

“Okay, okay. I’m just...oh, it’s so interesting! I’ve never been in one of my client’s readings before! To be swept up in a destiny I would actually want, it’s more than I could ask for.”

“Y— wait. You’re okay with this? I’m...I got a kid, y’know.”

“Okay.” Chihaya tilts her head, as if to say ‘why would that be a problem?’. “How old are they?”

“He’s in middle school.”

“Oh, good! I can’t wait to meet him.”

Oh, god. This is so much. Kaoru’s gonna throw a celebration, isn’t he? That kid better not egg him into it…

“Alright, I gotta go. I got a business to run, you know.” Iwai rubs his neck, grimacing.

“Okay, I won’t keep you, dear.” Chihaya stands up on the tips of her toes and  _ kisses him on the cheek _ , like something out of an old movie. Seems like they’re both playing from a playbook that’s long since out of date. “I’ll see you next Sunday?”

“...Yeah, sure.”

“It’s a date!”

_ It’s a date?! _

Oh, Iwai’s way too old for this. But… he’s not saying no, either.


	2. The Princess and the Dragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't been able to get these two off my mind lately, so I figured I'd get them off some other way if they're gonna hang around. Enjoy!

Chihaya has decided that there are a lot of things she loves about Mune. 

For one, the way he blushes whenever she calls him ‘Mune’ when they’re alone, lilting the U up and down and practically singing it back to him. It’s sweet, she thinks, for someone so outwardly rough looking to have that sort of reaction to anything, let alone to something as innocuous as playing games with his name. That’s another thing she loves about him, his demeanor. Chihaya is no stranger to the rougher side of life, but he carries himself differently than those men who posture and grumble in public to look tough. He’s so self-assured, utterly secure in his Iwai-ness that nothing can bother him. He’s her knight in OD Green armor, and just being around him is extremely calming. He still visits her stand on weekends, even after things have shaken out with the ADP with a certain boy’s help. The danger is gone, but Iwai has no plans for leaving, and that’s her favorite thing, she thinks. His loyalty.

Well...she has other most favorite things in this moment. 

His hands on her shoulders, the stubble on his chin brushing across her skin like sandpaper. His mouth and his tongue, which are not nearly as timid as he acts in public. He kisses her fiercely, like every moment is his first chance to kiss her and not the hundredth, the thousandth. Here in his shop, the scent of plastic and solvent are the furthest thing from her mind even as she sits on his workbench, her every sense dedicated to Mune and his attentions.

“Touch me, Mune.” She drags out the vowels of his name, teasing with a smile that turns his already flushed face redder. He lets go of her only long enough to shrug off his coat, the long-sleeved shirt underneath rolled up to his elbows revealing the ends of his tattoos. Another thing she loves about him is the ways that he worries about her, tries to tend to her every need. Before the first time they made love, he told her everything he could bear to about his past. He wanted to give her the chance to say no, to turn back now before she falls further in love with a former criminal. Mune showed her his tattoos for the first time, then.

Clouds of grey smoke roll over his shoulders, sliding down his arms. At his elbows the clouds brighten with flame, wispy trails snaking out in the wake of long dragons diving down his forearms and ending just before his wrists. On his back the largest dragon of all coils in the center, radiating heat and creating the smoky clouds that mask the castle behind it. It’s...cool. They don’t scare her. He looked worried sick when she walked back around to his front and kissed him without a word. Easier to just show how it makes her feel than try to explain it in words, she thought at the time  

Besides, the look on his face once she asked him to fuck her was priceless.

Back in the present, Mune unhooks her bra with a few deft movements and she shrugs it off with her dress. Sitting in only her panties on his workbench would have seemed monumentally embarrassing only a few months ago. Now, though, it’s just a fun change of pace with the added bonus of making it easier for them to be eye to eye while...well. His hand cups Chihaya’s breast, calloused and dry, and she exhales against his shoulder. Letting him do as he will is the most fun of all, so she lets him kiss her again, her mind focused on a finger working circles on one nipple while the other is gripped between thumb and forefinger, pinched and pulled.

“Muuuuune…” Chihaya moans, her forehead pressed to the gecko tattoo on his neck. Oh, he’s so good with his hands, it drives her mad. Just another thing to love about him, she thinks, another of his many virtues. She arches her back into his hands, the incessant toying and pressure making her body, her whole world feel like it’s as hot as the dragon on his back. The dragon breathes heat on her shoulder, a hand drifting away from her breast and slipping into the band of her panties.

“Having a good time?” Mune murmurs in her ear, his voice so deliciously dark with need of his own. She kisses his neck directly on the head of his gecko tattoo, and he shivers with a chuckle. “‘s a yes, huh.” She exhales hard again when his finger goes inside her, still so unbelievably, unbearably gentle. It’s good, but...

“Y’gotta be harder, Mune.” Chihaya begs, pushing away from his neck and giving him a pouty look, knocking his cap off his head with the flick of her wrist. “Y’not gonna break me if you don’t hold back, ‘kay?” Chihaya reaches a hand up into the hair on the back of his head, smiling. He doesn’t respond with words, but smiles and kisses her, moving his finger deeper into her as they meet. His hand moves hypnotically, his lone finger joined by one and abandoned time and time again, too many times to count. She loses track of everything that isn’t the low string of curses on her tongue. The feel of his mouth against hers, his hand against her pelvis, the image in her head of his cock straining against his pants, these are the only things Chihaya can hold onto.

“Oh, sugar, I wanna try somethin’, ‘kay?” His hand slows and he looks up when Chihaya speaks.

“Huh?” Mune looks vaguely entranced, like he had nothing else in the world on his mind but making her moan and curse louder and louder.

“Take off your pants and pick me up.” The way that he tilts his head for a moment is adorable. “C’mon, trust me. I want you to have a good time too, y’know?” Mune grunts, slipping his hand out of her panties and wiping it on his pants as he wrestles with his belt. Once he and his cock are free of their confines, he picks her up by the thighs and lifts her up level to him.

“This what you were lookin’ for?”

“Perfect. Maybe a little lower, you’re gonna have a hard time putting it in this high up.”

“Wh— Oh.” Mune laughs under his breath. “I didn’t know you were into this kinda stuff. Bein’ picked up an’ whatnot.”

“Every girl’s dream is to get picked up, darlin’, they just don’t wanna say it.” He lowers her obligingly until they’re roughly lined up. “You’re gonna be doin’ all the work, so do your best, ‘kay?”

“Gotcha.” Mune grunts, sweat already beading on his forehead. “Here goes nothing.”

Once he’s inside, those first strokes are unbelievable. After that long with just his fingers (as nimble as they are) it feels like a revelation, a revolution, unimaginable, like they just discovered the most mind-blowing thing in the world. Chihaya doesn’t hold back even a little, a long, seemingly never-ending string of curses interspersed with Mune’s name come spewing from her mouth. Her fingers dig into his shirt and draw lines on his back as she claws it upwards, holding for purchase and locking her legs around his waist. Anything to prolong this feeling, this unbearable moment of their pure meeting.

Sex with Munehisa is nothing like Chihaya’s ever had before he came into her life. He goes out of his way to be tender when they want it to be and rough when she asks for it. Mune shows no signs of stopping even as his breathing gets labored, the stroke of his thrusts transitioning from fast and short to longer and slower, pressing so deep into her. He rides the edge of both of their orgasms, varying his speed to last as long as either of them can bear. They do finally come one after the other, so close as to be indistinguishable, Chihaya clutching his chest for dear life as Munehisa finishes inside her.

“...Shit.” Iwai curses to himself as he lowers Chihaya into the nearest chair. “I forgot to grab anything to clean up with.”

“Don’t you even dare look at my dress.”

“I wasn’t gonna.” He drapes his jacket over her shoulders, setting the dress on the arm of the chair. “Here, uh…” He holds out a recently washed cloth from under the workbench. “Sorry. I got kinda carried away, huh.” She takes it with a smile, laughing to herself when he turns away to let her go about cleaning up the mess he made in her. Fucking her that hard one second and then back to the gentleman routine. Another thing that’s so sweet about Munehisa Iwai, she supposes. Better this than fretting over her and giving her a headache trying to fix every little thing.

“Don’t worry about it, sweetie.” When she’s done, she pulls her dress back on and stuffs her bra in the pocket of the jacket, zipping it up. Might as well wear it home, if he’s gonna be a gentleman, too.

“Yeah, but I do. Do you...wanna stay over, tonight? My place is closer.” He scratches his chin, an old habit he gets into whenever he feels like he’s being unreasonable.

“What about Kaoru?” She’s met him plenty of times, naturally, but Munehisa seems to be worried about forcing the issue of his new girlfriend too much.

“Visiting his birth mom for the weekend.”

“...Okay, sure.” She stands, looking up at him expectantly and tapping her lips until he gets the idea, giving her a quick kiss. “Thank you for tonight, Mune. Just how long is Kaoru gone?”

“Till Monday. You’re not…” He trails off, raising an eyebrow at her. “You are.”

“We’ll get plenty of rest and plenty of supplies in the morning, don’t you worry.” She takes his hand and starts swinging it back and forth between them. “It’ll be fun!” She can tell from the dark look he’s giving her that Mune thinks otherwise, but Chihaya knows for sure.

After all, her predictions are never wrong.


End file.
